The American Society for Reproductive Medicine provides the following recommendations for evaluation of gestational carriers (i.e., many fertility clinics will require the following for their gestational carriers) :

• Carried at least 1 child without complications
• Fewer than 3 deliveries via c-section 
• Body mass index in between 19 and 32
• No smoking, abusing drugs, alcohol or prescription medications
• Not receiving welfare, public housing or cash assistance from the government
• Has a stable home life with emotional and child care support
• No mental health conditions requiring the use of medications within the last 6 months (including depression)
• No criminal record

No one likes to talk about surrogate compensation, but it is an important factor in any surrogacy agreement. The following is how we classify high, medium and low compensation (excluding the value of any benefits). Many factors affect surrogate compensation including surrogate experience (e.g., has the woman been a surrogate before?), whether the surrogate is signed up with an agency and surrogate preferences.

• Low = surrogate compensation less than $20,000
• Medium = surrogate compensation between $20,000 and $40,000
• High = surrogate compensation greater than $40,000

You can learn more about how much surrogates get paid in our surrogacy guide’s module: “How much does surrogacy cost?”.